TODAY is The Longest Day of the Year

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If you've been waiting for the chance to get more done during the day, today, Sunday is your day, but only by a fraction of a second. Like a giant timepiece, Earth and sun are configured for the summer solstice once again. This year it happens June 21, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The sun will be up a fraction of a second longer than the day prior or the day after. (The length of the full day, including night, does not change, of course.)

If you've been waiting for the chance to get more done during the day, today, Sunday is your day, but only by a fraction of a second.

Like a giant timepiece, Earth and sun are configured for the summer solstice once again. This year it happens June 21, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The sun will be up a fraction of a second longer than the day prior or the day after. (The length of the full day, including night, does not change, of course.)
Our planet is tilted 23.5 degrees on its spin axis. On June 21 this year (some years it's June 20), the North Pole is pointing toward the sun as much as is possible.

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Imagine Earth as an apple sitting on one side of a table, with the stem being the North Pole. Tilt the apple 23.5 degrees so the stem points toward a candle (the sun) at the center of the table. That's summer for the top half of the apple. Now keep the stem pointing in the same direction but move the apple to the other side of the table: Now the stem points away from the candle, and it's winter on the top half of the fruit.

The setup at June solstice puts the sun as high in our sky as it can go.

Scientists put the exact moment of the solstice at 1:45 a.m. ET, which is 05:45 Universal Time (keep in mind that the sun is always up somewhere, and the gods don't favor any time zone). 

Photo shows the rise of the sun is seen at a 2,300-year-old structure in Peru, between Tower 1 and Cerro Mucho Malo at the June solstice, 2003, viewed from the western solar observatory. The sunrise position at the solstice has shifted to the right approximately 0.3° from the year 300 BC. Credit: Ivan Ghezzi

Article continues:  http://www.livescience.com/environment/090620-summer-solstice-science.html